New Warren Con school board member enrolled at Fla. university

A newly elected Warren Consolidated school board member who wants to block “outsiders” from attending the district’s schools apparently may spend much of his time approximately 1,100 miles away.

Ben Lazarus, 22, who finished second this month in a five-candidate race for two board seats, campaigned heavily on a theme of halting the enrollment of students who don’t reside within Warren Consolidated Schools boundaries.

Lazarus, who graduated from Warren-Mott High School in 2008, claims the practice — known as Schools of Choice — costs local taxpayers nearly $5 million a year. However, education officials widely tout it as a way to generate new revenue.

In one campaign robocall — an uncommon method in school board races and usually linked with state and federal politics — an unidentified woman said: “When I found out that outsiders attend our schools for free, I was afraid for my kids ... When it comes to my children, Ben Lazarus is the only candidate I trust.”

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In another call, a woman said: “Detroit is a mess but some candidates want our schools to be more like Detroit. Our homes are being vandalized, broken into and destroyed by outside students. And they want our schools to be more like Detroit?”

Geographically speaking, it appears Lazarus may be a bit of an outsider if he intends to fulfill his role as a member of the school board. He is a student at Stetson University in Florida.

His Faceback campaign page states he attended Central Michigan University and makes no mention of other higher education. He told The Macomb Daily that he studied political science at CMU but did not earn a degree from the university. He said he is taking business classes online through Baker College and is not attending school elsewhere.

On his campaign finance reports, Lazarus identified himself as an “agent” and self-employed. Asked to elaborate, he said he sells life insurance and health insurance.

State records show he has held a license since May 18, 2012, to sell insurance in Michigan. The business address on the license is in DeLand, Fla. The address returns to Stetson University, a private institution approximately 35 miles from Orlando, Fla.

“He is actively enrolled,” said Beverly Romans, administrative assistant in the Registrar’s Office at Stetson. Romans declined to reveal when Lazaurs started at the university, his schedule of classes and other details about his student status.

A Baker College official refused to confirm whether Lazarus is enrolled in its online courses.

The first meeting of the new Warren Consolidated school board is scheduled for Jan. 7, when the seven officials begin working together by choosing their new officers. In a travel sense, Lazarus may find his responsibilities as a board member in person could be pricey if he stays at Stetson. The board usually holds regular meetings twice a month to conduct district business. But members also attend several other functions, including commencement, awards programs and other events.

Lazarus could not be reached for follow-up comment. In the initial interview, he pointed out that he will launch a telephone hotline that he said he will monitor daily to field questions and concerns from district students and parents, and eventually through his campaign website, www.Ben4Board.com. That site remained “under construction” as Lazarus shifts from candidate, to the role of officeholder.

Second time a charm

Lazarus first ran for the Warren Consolidated Board of Education in 2011. He finished last among three candidates for one open board seat after Diane Holden did not seek re-election. Megan Papasian-Broadwell, a special education teacher in the Macomb Intermediate School District, captured almost 60 percent of the total votes to win the 4-year term. Carl Weckerly was second, at 28 percent. Lazarus finished with 12 percent.

Hessing and Gabler were endorsed by the Warren Education Association teachers union.

“I’m humbled to have a chance to serve the community,” said Lazarus, who credited a grass-roots campaign including family members, friends, former classmates and district residents. “Money can’t buy an election. It really takes people.”

Most of Lazarus’ campaign this year was financed by himself. He loaned almost $4,000 to his campaign committee, according to records reviewed by The Macomb Daily. He received $125 from the 12th Congressional District Republicans.

His largest campaign contribution, by far, came from Warren Mayor James Fouts, who donated $1,000 to Team Ben Lazarus on Oct. 5.

“I think his endorsement was very helpful. Mayor Fouts is a no-nonsense kind of guy,” he said.

The mayor’s picture and endorsement were featured prominently on a Lazarus campaign flier.

The two men were acquainted years before this year’s school board race. Both were outspoken in their criticism of the Conner Creek Academy East charter school in Warren, prior to its construction. In December 2007, they carried pickets to protest plans for the school, which moved from Roseville to Ryan Road near 13 Mile Road.

Other city officials and residents, including former Mayor Mark Steenbergh, also strongly opposed plans for the 61,000-square-foot facility, saying it was too big for the 34-acre site and that vehicles arriving at and leaving the school would cause traffic jams and hazards for motorists. Warren sued over the site plan approved by the state, and Macomb County Circuit Judge David Viviano permitted Conner Creek Academy officials to proceed at their “own risk.”

Warren City Councilwoman Kelly Colegio, a Fouts ally who has two children attending Mott High School, also endorsed Lazarus’ candidacy this year.

Outspoken in high school, college

At age 22, Lazarus calls himself “a proven leader.” It’s not immediately clear whether he is the youngest board member in the district’s history.

As a student at Warren-Mott High School, he protested the administration’s policy about the manner in which students were required to wear their student ID. He took his concerns all the way to the school board.

As a senior in 2008, Lazarus was president of a student government group that protested a grading system implemented in 2004. The group alleged the 13-point system improperly boosted the grades of underachieving students at the expense of top pupils. Lazarus charged that the system made it “virtually impossible for a student to fail” and created a “bail-out” for the district to reduce the number of failing students.

While attending Central Michigan University in 2009, Lazarus criticized then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm and accused her of not doing her part to adequately fund the Michigan Promise Scholarship program. He called the governor a hypocrite and launched a website as part of that protest and questioned Granholm during a public forum.

‘Choice’ disagreement

At 15,494 students, Warren Consolidated is the third-largest district in Macomb County and one of the state’s 10 biggest. The district includes northern Warren, southern Sterling Heights and a small portion of eastern Troy. With a budget of $174 million, the district operates 25 schools and employs approximately 800 teachers.

Board members receive a yearly salary of $2,250.

The district currently has about 1,300 students enrolled through Schools of Choice. About 300 were new in September.

Lazarus said he will conduct fact-finding to delve deeper into Schools of Choice, including student performance.

By dividing the district’s property tax revenue by the number of Schools of Choice pupils, he claims the cost to educate those who reside outside the district is $4.98 million. He projects that figure could top $12 million in 2015.

Warren Consolidated receives an $8,964 foundation allowance ­— the lifeblood of state funding for education — per student. Under Schools of Choice, districts receive that amount or the per-pupil allocation of the student’s home district, whichever is less.

Lazarus said many parents have complained to him that teachers are stretched too thin and that classes are overcrowded.

“The focus should be on the quality of education, rather than the quantity of students,” he said.

Superintendent Robert Livernois called Schools of Choice an absolute necessity. The outsiders are sprinkled across the district’s classrooms and do not add significantly to student-teacher ratios.

“We’ve always seen Schools of Choice as an opportunity to increase revenue and provide more programs and activities for kids,” the district’s top administrator said.

“If it cost the district money, we wouldn’t do it.”

Asked about Lazarus’ claims, Livernois said: “I have not spoken to him yet about those numbers.

“Frankly, I’m eager to get to work with him and see what his perspective is.”